Here’s something funny. Councillor Clare Coghill is a great one for saying how important it is to boost the local economy, and often reassures us that, in its never ending search to make our lives better, her council is doing just that. For example, here she is writing in the preface to LBWF’s 2016-18 Growth Strategy: ‘Over the next four years we will continue to work closely wit... »
A recent post, based on the evidence of a whistleblower, casts doubt on the way that the Labour Party in Waltham Forest has been financing its local government election expenditure (see link below). The key point is that in the last two local election campaigns, the bill appears to have been picked up solely by the Labour Group (LG), in other words the councillors in the Town Hall, and this raise... »
Over the years, a number of correspondents have approached this blog to express anxieties about how the local Labour Party (LP) is being run and financed. Some of their claims are plausible, others less so. But in general, it is often difficult for the bystander, given the prevalence of internecine strife, to separate out truth from factional point scoring. However, a whistleblower with impeccable... »
A good barometer of Labour’s ongoing moral collapse is the ever-expanding list of questionable characters who are currently being welcomed into its ranks, even (as Guido Fawkes regularly demonstrates) chosen to stand for the party at elections. No one with a few pounds to spare, it seems, is beyond the pale. Recently, the blog Harry’s Place published details of yet another revealing case, this tim... »
Yesterday, various readers contacted this blog about a little local mystery. The story is as follows. A couple of days ago, our old friend, LBWF Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes, circulated a list of councillors who are retiring at the forthcoming local election, and who should be tacked onto the end but Cllr. Alastair Strathern. This rightly caused consternation. Representing Higham Hill... »
The controversy over the register of interests forms posted by Cllrs. Khevyn Limbajee and Anna Mbachu, covered by this blog recently, is mushrooming, with even the officer in charge of enforcing the rules, LBWF Director of Governance and Law Mark Hynes, apparently struggling. Let’s take Cllr. Mbachu first, because her case is fairly straightforward. It will be remembered that she has been a ... »
Over the years this blog has periodically revealed that LBWF councillors have surprising difficulty keeping their register of interests forms as accurate and up-to-date as the agreed standards require, a very obvious example of Waltham Forest-itis. Now another possible case of this unfortunate malady may be on the cards. Cllr. Khevyn Limbajee is the Cabinet portfolio holder for housing, who, with ... »
For reasons best known to themselves, and against a mass of evidence, sections of the local Labour Party have continued to champion the disgraced ex-Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman. Now, however, their empathy looks even more absurd. For Mr. Rahman has been struck off by his own professional body, the Solicitors Disciplinary Committee (SDC), and ordered to pay £86,000 in costs. The key part ... »
A prominent member of the wide-awake club recently forwarded this Labour Party leaflet from back in September: It shows my old friend John Cryer, MP for Leyton and Wanstead, hyping three senior Labour councillors, Khevyn Limbajee, Anna Mbachu, and Chris Robbins, in the selection process for next year’s municipal elections. By intervening in this way, Mr. Cryer has broken no rules, but eyebro... »
A recent post looked at Cllr. Anna Mbachu’s unfortunate performance at an employment tribunal. Now news emerges that her register of interests form is also generating controversy. It is a matter of public record that, alongside two others, Cllr. Mbachu is a director of Knice Industries Ltd (company no.10018580), a business formed in February 2016 to pursue the ‘letting and operating of own o... »